Jan. 7, 2013

Troy Hansen, real estate developer, stands in an undeveloped floor of a building in the East Village. (David Purdy/The Des Moines Register)

Written by

It was back in 2006 that Troy Hansen started acquiring property in Des Moines’ East Village.

He had been working for his father’s construction firm, Hansen Company Inc., and even did a more than three-year stint from 2001 through 2004 as a project manager for the Arizona branch of the business.

Then a return to his hometown of Johnston — along with his high-school-sweetheart-turned-wife — got the ball rolling on still more long-term thinking. He sat down with his dad and had a conversation about “the direction I saw things going.”

“I wanted to try to create my own identity and have some input on the design of some projects,” said Hansen, 33. “It’s like I told my wife, if I’m going to take a risk it’s going to be while I’m young and have time to recover from it.”

Words to live by, especially considering the downturn the economy took not long after Hansen’s foray into real estate development and property management began. But more than 250,000 square feet of acquired property and three prime development lots later, the future of the East Village now stands to have a lot to do with Hansen Real Estate Services Inc.’s expansive vision.

“Troy really wants to do great things down here,” said Hansen tenant and Noodle Zoo owner Verlene Vanderpool. “He’s the understanding and hard-working guy next door. He bends over backwards to tend to your wishes and needs.”

But that praise is still way too mild for some.

“Troy and his company are going to single-handedly be changing the face of the East Village in the coming years,” said Chris Diebel, managing director of LPCA Public Strategies in Des Moines.

If so, that will have a lot to do with how those aforementioned development lots turn out, or as Hansen calls them, the “holes.”

Located at the intersections of East Second and East Locust streets, East Third and East Walnut streets, and East Sixth and East Walnut streets, they are some of the prime areas where the current East Village landscape is commonly viewed as falling off a cliff.

The 59 market-rate apartments and four retail bays that are in the initial planning stages for the property at East Sixth and East Walnut streets are just the sort of prime hole-filler Hansen is also keen on bringing to life elsewhere.

“It’s going to be a timing thing to make sure the economy can support it,” Hansen said. “But there is a lot of opportunity to make it so that the East Village doesn’t feel so spread out.”

As for what kind of retail Hansen will lure to the local scene, he said it was important to keep an open mind about some national brands making their presence known. The world did not come to an end when Jimmy John’s strolled onto East Locust Street a while back, and he thinks the right mix of national and local is the surest way to a win-win for everyone.

“Everybody is going to feed off of each other,” Hansen said. “We will attract all these different pods of people who will want to check everything out. The East Village is meant to be a great entertainment district, and we want people to be able to come down here and be able to spend the day.”

Cassie Sampson, owner of East Village Spa, said she remembered the concerns about Jimmy John’s (which is not a Hansen tenant) and how it might affect the neighborhood’s unique identity. But not only has she been sold on that national brand’s place within the larger scheme of the East Village, she’s also a big believer in Hansen as a guiding hand for the area’s future growth.

And that’s despite the fact Hansen isn’t even Sampson’s landlord. She got to know him through his broader work advocating for the East Village.

“He really fights hard for his tenants,” Sampson said. “He really advocates for them and wants them to be successful. When the recent blizzard happened, the first person I thought of to ask questions about power outage issues was Troy, and when entrepreneurs find out I’m an East Village business owner and have a lot of questions I automatically refer them to him.”

Yet another of Hansen’s business liaisons is none other than Iowa Cubs owner Michael Gartner, with whom Hansen is working to development several other properties in a separate area of town near Principal Park.

The two have just released plans to develop between 45 and 50 market-rate apartments within the former Wellmark warehouse at 226 E. Elm St.

Gartner has kicked the can around the block more than a few times in his life and said Hansen is as good as they come.

“I never do business with just anybody,” he said. “That gets you into trouble. You have to have admiration, respect and trust, and that’s the kind of young professional Troy is. He knows a lot about some things I know nothing about. I’m learning from him.”